These days, there are a few midsize off-road pickup trucks that are supposedly ready to tackle the toughest terrain right out of the box. Two of best on the market are the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison and Toyota Tacoma TRD. Although both trucks look the part on paper, what really matters is how they handle in the real world. Hence, TFL put together a “Texas Off-Road Shootout” to see how these two titans compare when pitted against each other on a muddy off-road course.
While each truck was specifically designed to take on all that the Great Outdoors has to offer, each also brings its own unique character.
The Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison was created as a collaborative effort between Chevrolet and AEV (American Expedition Vehicles). It starts as a regular Colorado ZR2 and adds some additional bits to make it even more rugged in the rough stuff. It’s powered by either the 3.6L V6 LGZ gasoline engine making 308 horsepower at 6,800 rpm and 275 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm, or the 2.8L four-cylinder LWN turbo-diesel that makes 181 horsepower at 3,400 rpm and 369 pound-feet of torque at 2,000 rpm.
Then we have the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro, which was created for dirt duty by Toyota’s in-house performance division. Under the hood is a 3.5L V6 gas engine making 278 horsepower and 265 pound-feet of torque.
Both trucks are upgraded with burly suspension pieces, beefy differentials, a high-riding stance, and all-terrain tires. However, the Colorado ZR2 Bison stands apart for its tough boron-steel off-road armor, which protects all the vitals underneath the body, while the Tacoma has an additional half-inch of ground clearance over the Colorado.
The video goes in-depth on both vehicles, checking out the powertrain, drivetrain, interior goodies, and all relevant specs. With all the numbers covered, TFL goes for it on the off-road course, which includes a deep mud hole, a technical articulation section, and to top it off, an ultra-slick hillclimb section.
The Bison and Tacoma trade blows on each of these challenging tests, but at the end of the day, the Bison looks to be the winner on the hillclimb as the Tacoma struggles to find grip. Chalk it up to the Bison’s knobby tires and selectable lockers to take home the W.
Regardless of who walks away victorious in this test, the 11-minute, 15-second video is definitely worth a watch if you love off-roading pickups.
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Comments
The Tacoma’s differentials are anything but beefy. Toyota sources the diffs from Thailand and the factory ring gear is notoriously weak. Since 2016 the rear diffs have had a ton of complaints for whining or howling at highway speeds too. The front diff also has issues that have existed since the 2nd gen truck came out.
Where is the course at? I’m in TX and want to take my Tacoma.
Where is the course at? I wasn’t too take my Tacoma and it out.
Where is the course at? I want to take my Tacoma through it.
this guys needs to learn how to use crawl control. if he did the Taco would have walked up any hill. Duh!
What most miss here is you take the skids and bumpers off here and you just have a much cheaper ZR2 still with all the good parts. The Bison mechanically is not any different it just has more skids and better bumpers with larger flares.
So you can take out a TRD Pro with a ZR you can buy for less than $40 K.
The Taco’s entire front end including grille and bumper assembly are so cheap and flimsy a low flying bird would easily cause major damage to it. Comical for the over 40K price they put on these inferior trucks. It’s always interesting to drive behind my local huge Toyota dealer and see all the rotted out frames and rear bumpers being replaced and to see how poorly these things hold up to just 5-6 Winters. Basically like cars of the 60’s and 70’s.
I am continually left my scratching my head over ~90% of the ZR2 comparison videos. Compare a gas engine vs. another gas engine! Ditch the damn diesel and have an apples to apples test.